Naked Men News

Vincent Bethell - Nude Warrior

Vincent Bethell is a body awareness or nudity
campaigner. He has spent years trying to raise society's awareness
of nudity and the human right to be nude without fear of
persecution.

Vincent is often in the news, mainly because he is regularly
arrested after conducting a nude stunt in public to get his
message across.

In one such stunt Vincent and a group of
protesters stripped naked outside London's Royal Courts of
Justice. On that occasion Vincent scaled a lamp post before
removing his clothes and declaring he would stay there for 24
hours. Police got him down and arrested him.

In January 2001 Vincent was unanimously cleared of being a public
nuisance. Prior to the hearing he had spent three months in
solitary confinement in London's Brixton Prison because he had
refused to wear clothes. Vincent said afterwards he was pleased at
the jury's decision because it meant he had been tried by members
of the public, and they had not found his nudity offensive.

"It's a great success," he told reporters outside the
court, "but it will only be a true success when everyone
overcomes their fears about their body. Life's too short to be
ashamed of the human body and humanity.